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For a 140-plus foot motoryacht: Bear with me, this is simplistic because I really am not sure what I'm asking. However, can an EPROM chip be set with specific instructions from an outside source? As in, can you remove an EPROM from an ECU and then re-program it to say, do vital damage to a ship when re-inserted?
Or, more to the point, in playing on the procedure for starting a yacht engine, can I facilitate the destruction, (the fiery, fiery destruction) of a ship by having someone fool with a pilfered EPROM that is then re-introduced to the ECU with some kind of special instructions?

Your still dreaming of blowing up stinkpots ....Hmm.
The problem with making a big motoryacht blow in a crowd pleasing manner is that they lack suitable concentrations of explosive material . If I were you I would take advantage of the fact that stinkpots and their operators love power and speed. Their tenders, toys and jet skis are high powered gasoline engines and to feed these thirsty toys ,stinkpots carry lots of gasoline in portable tanks. Gasoline is your friend....very powerful. Devise a gasoline scenario in your story.
Google " Thermobaric fuel air weapons ". These babies kick ass and are the most powerful, non nuclear weapons, known. Could be a great way to make a stinky dance..
Acording to my MCA yachtmaster manual......" If the walls of the confinement are strong, such as waterproof bulkheads , the over-pressure is contained and the blast effect is prolonged and channelled rather than dispersing evenly through the atmosphere. This can create a piston-type afterburn reaction in enclosed structures, with the flame-front progressing rapidly through the system "seeking" fresh oxygen ".
Should be dramatic and crowd pleasing. Think this is how they blew up tunnels in Vietnam
You need only slowly drip the gasoline over a sunlight warmed heat source, vaporize the gasoline, concentrate the vapor cloud in a stern garage,,forepeak or whaterver, add a spark with your microchip controled dvd stereo discolight entertainment system and Bang....stinky blows . ...I havent tried it , might work.

My god, that sounds AWESOME. I still have to work out how to tie that in to my whole thing plot-wise, sure, but definitely food for thought! I mean, hey, maybe my whole grand scheme is just not gonna do it (I know what I want but the logistics of EPROM microprogramming and the engineers on dockwalk aren't having it) and I'll need a plan B. I mean, at the end of the day, I'm blowing up that damn ship.

For a 140-plus foot motoryacht: Bear with me, this is simplistic because I really am not sure what I'm asking. However, can an EPROM chip be set with specific instructions from an outside source?

>> Yes, EPROM = Electrically Programmable Read Only Memory; EEPROM = Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory; PLA = Programmable Logic Array. All can be reprogrammed with the EEPROM being visually indistinguishable from the original (since it's the original, just reprogrammed).

As in, can you remove an EPROM from an ECU and then re-program it to say, do vital damage to a ship when re-inserted?

>> When reinserted, probably not, as the system would generally have to be off in order to prevent damage to the EEPROM and the program. Also, in your scenario, it implies that the engine is running and removing an E/EPROM would probably shut the engine down. You might get more destruction by using software maintenance/engine modification programs and modifying the Engine Control Unit parameters.

Or, more to the point, in playing on the procedure for starting a yacht engine, can I facilitate the destruction, (the fiery, fiery destruction) of a ship by having someone fool with a pilfered EPROM that is then re-introduced to the ECU with some kind of special instructions?

>> Probably not as engine systems are generally isolated from other systems. You could cause things to happen but "fiery, fiery destruction" wouldn't be one of them.

Getting a "140-plus foot motoryacht" on fire is not an easy task, and putting one out is even tougher.